=W= and the Foos
Yesterday was the usual Monday boring crap, until I got a call from a friend who had tickets to the Foo Fighters / Weezer concert at the Patriot Center that he couldn't use. At first I declined... I have been so tired lately that I don't even want to think about going out. But then I realized how absolutely lame I was being, and I agreed to go. Drew said he would drive, and Kapil ran all the way to my house.We hopped into Drew's car and headed south, into the vast unknown that is Virginia. We figured it would be easy to find George Mason University... there would be signs for it, right? No. Everytime I go to Virginia I get lost, and I've lived here for all of my life. I blame it on urban sprawl and a lack of good signage. Anyway, long story short we turned around about 50 times and asked 3 different idiots for directions before we finally found the campus.
We took our seats just as the lights went down for Weezer. Apparantly the Kaiser Chiefs opened, but we missed them. I didn't care, I'm not much of a fan of them. I was very curious about Weezer, though.
Let me go off on a tangent here for a second. I have always loved Weezer. Back when the Blue album first came out, but before they had really blown up, they played at the Kemp Mill Records in College Park right near my house (the old one, that later became a Radio Shack). My friend and I got a ride there from his stepmom, but the show was so crowded we couldn't get in. His stepmom called the police and reported how crowded it was to the fire marshall and the show got shut down. So I missed a great chance to see the guys at a tiny in-store appearance when they were pretty much unknown. Damn.
They got big and everyone loved their videos. But then they put out Pinkerton and the fans dropped off. I loved Pinkerton. I still think it is an amazing record. But as everyone knows Weezer took the dislike of their new album very personally, and eventually broke up. I was bummed.
Then, a few years later, rumours began to float around on the internets that =W= was getting back together. I didn't believe it until I found out that they were going to tour. Somehow I managed to get tickets to their show at the 930 club. It was hands down the best show I have ever been to. They rocked out like I couldn't believe, playing nothin' but hits, and the entire crowd was so excited that everyone was jumping up and down and singing along at the top of their lungs.
So, it's been a few years since that epic show, and since then Weezer has put out some very sub-par albums. I was really curious as to what they would be like live now, and whether they would even play any older material.
When the stage lights came up, I saw that they had a nice backdrop of their Make Believe album cover, and a huge drum riser that was shaped like some sort of snake thing (also from the album cover). The cool thing was that the guitar and bass amps were built into the set, so you didn't even really see them. It just looked like the guys from Weezer with their instruments on stage, and nothing else.
They opened up with "My Name is Jonas," and while the music rocked, the sound was pretty awful. It definitely took a few tracks before their sound-man got everything under control and tightened up the mix. Then they performed a few songs from their new album, which didn't particularly excite me. I was getting ready to write off the entire performance. But then, during a break between songs, Rivers Cuomo commented on how they were touring with the Foo Fighters but that the Foos weren't playing one of their favorite songs. So he said they were going to play it instead. And they did, breaking out an amazing cover of "Big Me" which they seemlessly transitioned into "Why Bother?"
From that point on the set improved dramatically. Weezer definitely works hard to entertain. They switched instruments numerous times, usually leaving only seconds between songs. Rivers actually didn't sing a few songs, leaving vocal duties to the other members of the band, so that he could run around and rock out on guitar.
They played an awesome version of "El Scorcho" and a few other hits, and then the lights dropped and they left the stage. I thought their set was over, but then I heard an acoustic guitar being strummed. I couldn't see anything on the stage, but then again the lights were off and we were in a seated section directly opposite the stage. Suddenly a spotlight came on right in front of us where the soundboard was located, and I realized that Rivers Cuomo was standing there on a table with a guitar and a mic. I don't know how he got from the stage to the back so quickly, but everyone in the crowd was amazed. He played "Islands in the Sun" accoustically, and then ran back up on stage to rejoin the band for an awesome encore. They even grabbed a girl out of the crowd and taught her the chords to "The Sweater Song" and let her play it with them. The set ended with all of the members of the band playing the drums at the same time, and blow guns showering the audience with confetti.
I gotta say I was impressed. =W= had set a high bar. It was up to the Foos to rock out even harder. Now, I've seen the Foo Fighters probably 7 or 8 times now, since back when they used to play the Black Cat and shit. I know they rock out extra hard when they are in our area, since this is their home. But still, it had been a few years since I'd seen them, and I didn't know what to expect.
They immediately blew all my expectations away. God damn those guys can rock. And they were LOUD. Their stage setup involved a backdrop of about a hundred different kinds of amplifiers, all stacked up in a big messy pile. Above them these giant tetris shaped video displays showed grainy footage of what was going on onstage, and other video screens showed various video loops set to the music.
I don't know if I can do justice to their set. Not only are they an amazingly tight live act, but they are fun to watch, too. Dave Grohl has an insane amount of energy... he is constantly running around the stage and yelling to people in the crowd. He's also pretty damn funny on the mic. Between songs he played to the home crowd by mentioning his high school(s), and places he used to hang out, etc. He dedicated a song to his parents, who were sitting in the soundbooth. Then later he jumped off the stage and ran to the back of the arena (while still playing guitar), and hopped up on the same table that Rivers Cuomo had performed on. From here he and the other Foo guitarist had a little "dueling banjos" moment where they solo'd back and forth. And then in a blink of an eye he was back on the stage to finish off the song.
Probably the best part of the night was when Dave dedicated a song to his wife. He had all of the lights dimmed and played a very soft version of "Everlong" that got the whole crowd singing along.
Their encore ended with a jammed out version of "Monkey Wrench" that was so heavy I thought my teeth were going to fall out. In fact, their entire set probably took a year off of my life. The only weak spot in their entire performance was when they let drummer Taylor Hawkins perform a song (also dedicated to his wife). This wasn't all bad, though, as we at least got to see Dave play the drums.
If you've never seen the Foo Fighters, go see them. If you can't go see them, go get their live DVD "No Way Home." I can't say enough good things about these guys.
posted by averagejoe @ 9:31 AM
2 Comments:
That concert sounds badass, sorry I missed it.
There is a Wash Post article today reviewing the concert. I was in awe of Dave Grohl. He is the man. He is what rocking out is all about.
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